Almost Perfect
by Wings-of-Sapphire
Summary: Out in the rain it somehow made sense that they would be left to each other. The two who were so alike. The two who were almost perfect for one another. Sakura and Shikamaru, two pieces of a puzzle that very nearly fit together.


**Crap, I did say _funny _last time didn't I? Well, I am writing something funny but this sort of got churned out as well, so ENJOY IT ANYWAY. IT'S WEIRD. **

**Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto or any of the characters used in this story**

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Out in the rain it almost made sense that they would be left together.

Something was just barely off about the two of them. Something that everyone had noticed at one point or another as the days turned to weeks and months and years. The uncanny truth that neither party ever cared to acknowledge.

They were almost perfect for one another.

And they would not deny it. They were logical, if nothing else. Brilliant. And they were not blind to the fact that they were two pieces of a puzzle that very nearly fit together. It was not what they wanted though. And so they walked away from it. Slowly and without great rush.

Now that Naruto had left. Now that Ino was mooning over another Sand-nin that didn't seem to care about anything, let alone another human being. Their stroll away from each other has come to a sudden and complete halt.

Naruto left years before this drenched day.

It hurt worse than she had imagined it would. It pained her more than she would ever admit, just to see him walk away like that. And the pink haired girl wonders if things would have turned out differently if she had simply loved him when she had the chance. If she would still be standing in a downpour, abandoned by teammates of squad that no longer existed. And somewhere in the back of her mind she knew that this was always how this chapter of her life would end.

Ino was a different story. There was always the chance that she would turn back around and decide that the lazy nin was her true love.

Maybe that was worse. At least in her own situation she knew that Naruto was gone and not coming back for a very long time. She had the affirmation of her future without him. But the Nara did not have such a consolation. He had doubt and hesitation. Fear that if he were to move on, that the blonde beauty would come back for him.

But at the very least, she supposes, they have each other.

And that could be enough.

She knew it could be, because they were practically made for each other.

It was how she knew where to find him today. Like minded as they are. Her hair turns magenta as she stands out in the rain with him. He watches Ino walk away, becoming a bobbing blue umbrella on its way to a man that would never give a damn, and the Nara stands there as though he doesn't care at all. As though he doesn't have a heart that is cracking straight down the middle. He is smart and lazy and a very good actor.

The rain is cold and seeps through her shirt and chills her to the bone; she can almost feel the tears on her face, but she can't be quite sure if it's rain water of if she is truly crying for him.

The thunder booms above them but she remains where she is, watching him as he watches her. A tentative hand on his arm, "I'm sorry."

"Why should you be?"

It is a blunt question. Said without venom or malice. Simple and concise, and just like him. It is something that she has always appreciated about the boy. There were no flourishes. Just the truth, the facts, the solutions. And yet none of those things would help him here.

"Because I know what it feels like. And I wouldn't wish it on anyone else."

Another clap of thunder and flash of lightning and her companion looks up at the sky as though it is being increasingly intrusive on his day, "Troublesome."

But he doesn't deny it, and that's all the affirmation that she needs. She begins to retract her hand but finds it locked in place by another. He doesn't look at her, but he doesn't let her go either. And so they remain that way, standing together in a bubble universe of rain and heartache and logical solutions.

When she looks closer at him, she can see it in his eyes. The fact of the matter. That she could forget Naruto and Sasuke and their goodbyes and he could forget Ino and her inattention. They could stay like this, together and comfortable and comforted. And it could be almost perfect.

Just like them.

She pulls away slightly and he stands ever so still and they both know that they won't. Won't ever give up or give in or forget. But it is so tempting to stay with each other and be the simple kind of happy that they both longed for so badly.

"We could do this." He says, partially to himself, and partially to the sky and the clouds and the sheets of water around them.

She can hear his heartbeat through the thin cotton of his shirt. A heart like hers. And the only one even close. He is Shikamaru Nara, he is troublesome and lazy and a genius and he makes sense to her.

The way he says those words sounds almost whimsical. A fairy tale that they had heard once upon a time. A love so quiet that it could seep into your bones and tissue and settle itself over the scars and scrapes and bruises.

And the rain falls even harder but it doesn't seem to matter to either one of them anymore.

"We wouldn't have to forget." She says, as though he could hear her thoughts. As though he could possibly know what she was referring to, but he nods and looks down at her and she can see the gears turning in his head. The life that he can make out in the green of her eyes.

"Happy." He says, as though it was the only word that had jumped out at him. A word that had surprisingly taken him off guard.

The pink haired girl nods earnestly. She was loud and quiet and intelligent and quick tempered. And she could love him.

"We could do this." She says, affirming his statement.

Sakura Haruno stood out in the rain with Shikamaru Nara, and it somehow made sense that they would be left together.

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